Spielberg to help design 2008 Olympic ceremonies

Spielberg to help design2008 Olympic ceremonies
BEIJING -- Steven Spielberg will join filmmaker Zhang Yimou in designing the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Zhang, whose films include "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers," was named Sunday to lead a team that includes Spielberg.
"I've promised not to direct any films in the next two years so as to make full preparations for the Olympics," Zhang was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.
Zhang said his hiatus will start after he finishes his latest project, "The City of Golden Armor," starring Chow Yun-fat and Gong Li.
Fan buys Holly's watch
DALLAS -- The diamond-studded watch Buddy Holly was wearing when he was killed in a plane crash has been sold at auction for $155,350.
The buyer was a woman near San Francisco who wants to remain anonymous, said Heritage Auction Galleries spokesman Doug Norwine. He said she was a "tremendous" fan of the rock 'n' roll pioneer and had even flown to London and New York to see a musical based on his life.
Holly received the diamond-and-white gold Omega wristwatch as a gift from his wife, Maria Elena Holly. He wore it "the day the music died" on Feb. 3, 1959, when he and singers Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson were killed in a plane crash in Iowa. Holly was 22.
Thomas, Jewel to tour
NEW YORK -- Grammy winner Rob Thomas will tour with Jewel starting May 23 in Clearwater, Fla.
Jewel's new album, "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland," is set for release May 2. Thomas, who fronts Matchbox Twenty, will tour in support of his debut solo album, 2005's "...Something to Be," Atlantic Records has announced.
The seven-week tour will include stops in Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Minneapolis, Nashville, Tenn., and San Diego. The final stop will be July 8 in Kelseyville, Calif.
Toby Lightman will open.
'Too much baggage'for protest, Fonda says
ATLANTA -- Jane Fonda says she would like to tour the country and speak out against U.S. involvement in Iraq, but her controversial history of Vietnam War protests leaves her with "too much baggage."
"I wanted to do a tour like I did during the Vietnam War, a tour of the country," the Oscar-winning actress said Monday on ABC's "Good Morning America." "But then Cindy Sheehan filled in the gap, and she is better at this than I am. I carry too much baggage."
Sheehan, whose soldier son, Casey, died in Iraq in 2004, has become a leading anti-war figure.
Fonda said that during a recent national book tour, war opponents -- including some Vietnam veterans -- asked her to speak out.
Last month, the Georgia Senate overwhelmingly rejected a resolution honoring Fonda, an Atlanta resident, for her work preventing teen pregnancy, donations to universities and charities, and role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations.
Her political activities protesting the Vietnam War, including a trip to North Vietnam in 1972, have long made her a target of veterans.
Notable death
Gary Gray, 69, whose career as a child actor in the 1940s and '50s included MGM's final Lassie movie, died of cancer April 4 in Brush Prairie, Wash., said friend and Western-film authority Boyd Magers.
Today's birthdays
Actress Barbara Hale is 85. Actor James Drury is 72. Actor Robert Hooks is 69. Actress Hayley Mills is 60. Actor James Woods is 59. Actress-director Dorothy Lyman is 59. Actress Cindy Pickett is 59. Actor Rick Moranis is 53. Actress Melody Thomas Scott is 50. Actor Eric Roberts is 50. Actor John James is 50. Actress Jane Leeves is 45. Talk show host Conan O'Brien is 43. Actor Eric McCormack is 43. Actress Maria Bello is 39. Rock musician Greg Eklund (The Oolahs) is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Trina (Trina and Tamara) is 32. Actress Melissa Joan Hart is 30. Actor Sean Maguire is 30. Actress Alia Shawkat is 17.